Me.
And my love. And a few of my dear friends.
AIDS is not everything I am. It does not consume me, it is not *me* entirely, but it is part of this whole. There are many many times that I feel overwhelmed, sick and sad....
But then again...my life is also filled with hope, peace and much love. There is still so much stigma and misinformation surrounding AIDS/HIV. Please, educate yourself. Learn more, open your mind.... You don't know how I got it. You don't. You don't know what I've been through to get to this point of advocacy and hope. It touches anyone indescriminatly. If we cover our eyes and pretend we can't see AIDS...we miss out on some powerful opportunities.
Please...please don't put HIV in your bag of denial:
World AIDS day. What a thing to "celebrate". Please go get tested, and then read some about what AIDS REALLY is.
No viral load=No transmittion!!
The end of AIDS: Hope for a cure!!
Please read any or all of these articles. None of them are written by me. All studies are by professionals. This is not a matter of opinion. This is fact now. Thank you for your time. Your own education is a blessing to me. I love that poem "AIDS AIDS AIDS". I met the author. She's amazing.
The thing I want to really discuss today...is something Bono said last night on the Daily Show while discussing his (amazing) work in the field of AIDS advocacy and fundraising. He said that circumsision in males would lead to lower infection rates in men.
When I heard him say that....my mouth hit the floor. I can't believe that someone as knowledable as him would say such a thing!! This is NOT TRUE. So many people watch the daily show, so many people are going to believe him because of who he is...and it's WRONG!!
A study was done (poorly...imo) in Africa back in 2006 (round about then..) and it "showed" that circumsision in men led to less infection. This has since been proven false. There was a slight protection in straight men, but none in gay or bisexual men. This...in Africa...where many still believe that if they have sex with a virgin (read: Rape a young girl!!) that they will be protected from ever contracting AIDS. This is dangerous and false information.
There are great strides being made toward a cure and I can't believe Bono would throw out information about circ instead of talking about gene therapy, or blood cleansing protocols that are coming out. (discussed in the "End of AIDS" article I linked to above) Ugh!! Pisses me off.
If anyone with better google-fu than me can find a (current, recent) article talking about the myth of this circ connection...please share it and I'll link it here. I couldn't find one in the few moments I had to do a search.
Above all...be careful with yourself. Respect yourself enough to demand safety. HIV is easily avoided. Condoms work. Don't touch blood. Have compassion for those who do have this disease. Here's to the end of AIDS. I hope I can see it in my lifetime and...I believe I will.
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